RTCPeerConnection: datachannel event

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since January 2020.

A datachannel event is sent to an RTCPeerConnection instance when an RTCDataChannel has been added to the connection, as a result of the remote peer calling RTCPeerConnection.createDataChannel().

Note: This event is not dispatched when the local end of the connection creates the channel.

This event is not cancelable and does not bubble.

Syntax

Use the event name in methods like addEventListener(), or set an event handler property.

js
addEventListener("datachannel", (event) => {});

ondatachannel = (event) => {};

Event type

Event properties

Also inherits properties from Event.

channel Read only

Returns the RTCDataChannel associated with the event.

Examples

This example sets up a function that handles datachannel events by gathering the information needed to communicate with the newly added RTCDataChannel and by adding event handlers for the events that occur on that channel.

js
pc.addEventListener(
  "datachannel",
  (ev) => {
    receiveChannel = ev.channel;
    receiveChannel.onmessage = myHandleMessage;
    receiveChannel.onopen = myHandleOpen;
    receiveChannel.onclose = myHandleClose;
  },
  false,
);

receiveChannel is set to the value of the event's channel property, which specifies the RTCDataChannel object representing the data channel linking the remote peer to the local one.

This same code can also instead use the RTCPeerConnection interface's ondatachannel event handler property, like this:

js
pc.ondatachannel = (ev) => {
  receiveChannel = ev.channel;
  receiveChannel.onmessage = myHandleMessage;
  receiveChannel.onopen = myHandleOpen;
  receiveChannel.onclose = myHandleClose;
};

Specifications

Specification
WebRTC: Real-Time Communication in Browsers
# dom-rtcpeerconnection-ondatachannel

Browser compatibility

Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHub
desktopmobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
datachannel event

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support

See also